Blackthorn
by GlanceTwice
Summary: Lyra's HGSS story, with some meat on those skinny bones.


Note & Disclaimer: Mostly game based. I love Kotone/Lyra, and adore the person I am going to ship her with. (3) I've read some good ones with this ship already, but fangirls can not exist on one-shots alone! So here is my labor of love for the world of Pokemon....it's HGSS, with some meat on those skinny bones!

On a sidenote, I am new to , and I understand I need a beta reader?

(POKEMON IS NOT MINE!)

**Blackthorn. (Working Title)**

_My breathing was beginning to come in short, labored gasps. I could feel the lining of my hat dampening with the sweat that was trickling down from my hairline; my palms were slipping in their efforts to grasp my last Pokeball. I pressed the little red and white sphere briefly to my lips; sure that the Pokemon within could already feel my rapid pulse, and that my fear was somehow leaking through to her. But she had never let me down yet..._

_"Togetic, go!"_

_Her tiny form looked so small next to Lance's towering Dragonite; so familiar, yet no longer our ally._

**Chapter One**

The first steps are always the hardest. The butterfree's which had weeks ago taken up a seemingly permanent residence in my stomach where already spinning in wild circles, though it was barely 9:00 in the morning. I had been preparing for this day for so long... _THE_ day, the _FIRST _day, the beginning of my life as a Pokemon Trainer! All the barely contained excitement that I had first felt when I aced my interview with Professor Elm, and he had accepted my application to assist in his research, had morphed into flat out nervousness: what if I did a horrible job of training my new pokemon? What if I couldn't catch any wild pokemon to document? What if I lost all my battles, and the Professor decided he had no use for me? What if....

"Lyra! It's time!" My mom's voice carried up the stairs. I started. Punctuality and preparation are the sisters of success, and I did not want to make a mess of this day. I turned slowly about my room, mentally catalouging the familiar sight, again ticking items off my meticulate mental checklist. Finally, when I was satisfied that everything was in its place, I pulled my favorite hat over my carefully combed pigtails and closed the door on my childhood sanctuary.

My mother sat at the dining room table, her face supportative, but her hands were fidgeting with the items she had set out for me. "Your gear, Lyra." She smiled as she handed me my oversized yellow bag, which I had already carefully organized. "Remember, always keep your money and TrainerCard in the inside pocket; I shudder to think what would happen if you lost-"

"Mom." I said firmly. "I know. Don't worry." Reassuring her fears grounded me, and as I hugged her goodbye, my heart steadied to its normal tempo. Still, her eyes were glassy. "C'mon, Mom, I'll come right back to show you my choice, anyway."

"Well, be careful. Are you still planning on choosing-"

I cut her off again. "Cyndaquil? Yeah." I had studied my choices well; chikorita, totodile, and cyndaquil. My decision had come from a careful consideration of the advatages of one type over another, as well as a detailed analysis of how well each would do in the eight Johto League gyms I would eventually be facing (as part of my research for Professor Elm, of course). A fire pokemon, I had decided, would be the best choice. Grass pokemon had far too many weaknesses, and water types, while moderately powerful, where common enough in Johto. No, a firebreather was exactly what I wanted! This thought made me grin as I headed next door to Professor Elm's lab. Yes, fire was definately the strongest type---

"Lyra!"

I smiled as my childhood friend and long-time neighbor, Ethan, strode toward me. He too was beginning his pokemon journey today; training to eventually take on the Pokemon League and it's Champion; a feat I hoped to beat him to. "Take a look!" He was beaming as he released his pokemon, and I could see the kid in him, though certainly neither of us could be called so now. A grinning totodile now leapt about his feat, snapping at his shoelaces, almost landing Ethan flat on his face. "Ugh. Hard to believe this fella is gonna be a Feraligatr someday, huh?" We laughed together and said our goodbyes, although in the back of my mind, I was already mentally itemizing what I would have to do for my cyndaquil to overcome its weakness to Ethan's pokemon.

I barely glanced at the assistants as I marched into my meeting with Professor Elm, hoping my face matched my purposeful stride. "Lyra!" He greeted me eagerly. "I've been waiting for you." I had to work to keep my gaze from following my thoughts to the two pokeballs that rested so innocently behind the professor. _Cyndaquil, we have a lot of work to do..._

"Welcome to your first day 'on the job', as it were." I jerked my attention back to the Professor. "As you know," he continued, "I am involved in some, shall we say, not so typical research. I am sure you are aware that Pokeballs," he gestured behind him, "did not always exist. My recent studies show that there are many benefits of allowing your pokemon to travel without confinement, as your equal." He smiled at me. "Don't look so suprised, Lyra! Pokemon, like human beings, have emotions; they feel friendship and rivalries, devotion and determination, just like any one of us. And also like us, these emotions will eventually have an affect on their outward characteristics, which is the focal point of my studies. Why, there are even some pokemon whose evolutions I believe can be affected by--- well, I guess it's really your job to find that out!" He put his palm out, expectant. "Are you still certain that you wish to take on this challenging assignment? It will take alot of hard work and determination."

Hard work and determination. If there were ever qualities in me that I was proud of, these were the ones. I shook his hand firmly. "Having a cyndaquil by my side will---"

He laughed heartily. "Cyndaquil? I should have known you would come with a choice firmly in mind." He picked up a pokeball and held it out. "Actually, since you are not, erm, well, you're not a typical trainer, I had something a little different in mind." He smiled encouragingly. "Go on, let her out."

I frowned. Ethan had taken the totodile, so... chikorita? A grass type hadn't really even been an option, as far as I was concerned. Simply too many weaknesses! Still, they were strong against water types, and the idea of my future meganium taking out Ethan's feraligatr made my more competitive side practically purr. I tossed the pokeball into the air, already warming to the idea of a bejewled little---

Azurill?!

"But...Professor!" I tried to bite my tongue, but my heart was in my stomach, and it was a blow. "Azurill isn't even a starter pokemon!" The blue, mouse-like creature sniffed in indignation, but I ignored her, horrified at the idea that my first pokemon was going to have a _tail _that was bigger than its _body_. And not even an elemental type...!

"Lyra, Lyra." The professor chuckled. "Azurill may be small, but I think you will find that she has some pretty suprising abilities. And, though her moveset isn't much now, I'm sure you will also discover that with patience, practice and caring, a true partnership will make up for any supposed weaknesses." His eyes took on a knowing gleam. "Why, if you wanted to, and you worked really hard, you could even use the team we are going to build to surprise the heck out of a few gym leaders! After all, training in gyms is valuable to building a pokemon's life experiences, and therefore, valuable to this research."

I smiled weakly. After all, if not for the Professor's decision to take me on as a sort of intern, I wouldn't be going on a Pokemon journey at all; and here he was, giving me permission to do the very thing I had been planning to do all along. Shame crept over me as I remembered that I very will could be stuck at home, with only an occasional postcard from Ethan... I shuddered. Azurill was better than no pokemon at all, and I had a job to do. I swallowed my disappointment and began to go over my first assignment with my new boss.


End file.
